


the strongest wills

by General_Organa



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Fix-It, Multi, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2020-02-09 06:44:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18632905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/General_Organa/pseuds/General_Organa
Summary: ***ENDGAME SPOILERS*** Post-Endgame, in a world where the end of the battle happens just a little bit differently.





	1. thor wields the gauntlet

Tony’s mind never stopped.

Sometimes he viewed it as a blessing; sometimes, a curse. Sometimes, he was able to slow the flow of thoughts down, like when he was flying or listening to Morgan laugh or touching Pepper. But his mind never stopped, not even in battle. So as the battle progressed, as he flew and fought and tried frantically not to think about the fact that Pepper and Peter were in just as much danger as he was, part of his mind was ticking away-

_If we can’t use the time machine to get the gauntlet away from Thanos, someone’s going to have to use the damn thing to get him away from us._

He used his lasers to sweep through a line of Thanos’ goons, touched down briefly and pulled a Wakandan warrior out of harm’s way--and then there was a flash of light in his peripheral vision, and Carol Danvers was grappling with Thanos for the gauntlet. Until she wasn’t.

_If Carol Danvers couldn’t pull that gauntlet off his hand, there’s no fucking way any of the rest of us are going to be able to._

But there was no choice; they had to try. Tony made another run at Thanos, and it didn’t go any better than his prior attempts had. He skidded into the ground, gasping for breath. When he turned his head, he saw Strange. One finger, up. One future, out of more than fourteen million. _Tony. There was no other way._

Whatever was going to happen needed to happen now. Tony felt like his thoughts were on a hamster wheel inside his head. Or maybe he just had a concussion. _How can we get the gauntlet?_ he thought, rapidly running through options in his mind--and then he went hot and cold at the same time as he realized he’d been approaching the problem wrong. _Fuck. We don’t need the_ gauntlet _. We need the_ stones.

It had taken them time to built that gauntlet, time they didn’t have in the middle of battle, but Tony had either come up with or been there for every step of that process. He had a suit made of nanobots. He could make it work. What was his brain for, his experience, all of it, if not to make this work?

He didn’t give himself time to think about what it would mean.

Tony got up. He launched himself at Thanos. A desperate grab at his hand, frantically directing the nanobots-and then he was flying through the air.

_Fuck. Fuck. Please let me have gotten them all._

Tony opened his clenched fist. Time, Space, Mind, Power, Reality, Soul. Thank God. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Thanos, but there was no time to look. He extended his right hand-

-and whirled around as he heard someone land behind him.

“I heard Strange’s voice in my mind.” Thor. “Quick, let me do it.”

Almost out of reflex, Tony shook his head. “Thor, buddy-”

Thor’s gaze was intense, lightning blue. “I know what you all think of me now. But the hammer would not have come to me if I was not worthy. This will kill you, and it will not kill me. Let me do it. For your daughter. For my brother. For Asgard.”

Tony hesitated.

“ _Please._ ”

To their right, Thanos raised his hand.

They were out of time. Tony grabbed Thor’s arm and focused. A stream of nanobots flowed across their linked forearms, forming a gauntlet. Thor spread his hand and Tony placed the stones as quickly as he could, letting go as energy hummed around them. Thor shook, harder and harder, as the stones’ glow raced up his arm. They locked eyes, one last time, and turned to face Thanos.

“I am inevitable!” A snap. A beat of silence. And then-

“For Asgard!” Thor snapped his fingers, and the world went white.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a few more of these planned, including a different ending for Steve, but wanted to get this out first.
> 
> 5/5/19: I made minor edits after rewatching Endgame and realizing that I hadn't gotten the battle choreography right.


	2. tony, bucky, and steve: part one

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ***ENDGAME SPOILERS*** Post-Endgame vignettes, in a world where the end of the battle happens just a little bit differently.

After the dust of Thanos’ army settled, after Strange transported an unconscious but blessedly alive Thor to Wakanda for help, after the other wizards of Kamar-Taj started portaling people back to their homes, the remaining Avengers looked around and began to take in the ruins of their former headquarters.

“We still need to figure out how to return the stones,” said Bruce. He sat collapsed against a rock, gingerly holding the remains of the gauntlet Thor had used in his good hand.

Tony groaned, not ready to tackle another problem. “The time travel platform is under that rubble.” He swayed a bit, and Peter grabbed his arm.

Pepper walked up and stood next to them. “None of you are doing anything about the stones right now. Everyone here is too exhausted to do it right, and we need to take stock. We built some guest cabins on the land around our house. If one of the wizards can get us there, the core group can stay with us for as long as you need.”

Tony took her hand and kissed it. “I love you three thousand,” he said hoarsely. She looked at him and smiled, her eyes glittering with tears.

* * *

Two days later, after the Barton family arrived, they held Natasha’s memorial service at the pond outside the house.

Afterwards, most of the guests dispersed back to their cabins. Thor, who had insisted on attending the ceremony despite the fact that he couldn't even stand, had been portaled back to Wakanda. No one knew where Bruce had gone.

Tony, Steve, and Barnes sat on the porch. “She held us together,” Steve said. He was staring at Clint, who was still standing with his head bowed at the end of the small dock. “These five years, it was all her. I was in and out, I couldn’t handle it, but she never gave up. We would have all drifted, those of us who were left, but she wouldn’t let us.”

Tony swallowed hard. He looked the other way, and he saw Peter perched on the tiny chair by Morgan’s tent as the little girl placed a leaf-crown on his head. The sight, which only days ago had seemed an impossible dream, didn’t help him regain his equilibrium. “Yeah. She stayed in touch, with Pepper and me. She’d call every few months. Supposedly the idea was to confirm that the Stark Foundation’s relief money was going where it was needed, but.” He cleared his throat. “That wasn’t what it was.”

Steve stood abruptly and turned his back to them. The other two men looked at him, but he didn’t turn around. “When is the new time travel platform going to be finished?”

Tony blinked at the change in subject. “A few days. The issue is actually the particles more than the platform. Helps that Pym’s back.”

“Good.” Steve still hadn’t turned around. “I’d like to be the one to return the stones.” He walked into the house, not bothering to catch the screen door behind him. It hit the frame with a clatter.

Barnes stared at the closed door. “He’s gonna do something stupid.”

Tony blew out a breath. “If you think we should go with him…”

That surprised Barnes enough that he turned to face Tony. “Not _we._ You’ve done more than enough, and you have people here who need you.” He paused, clearly struggling for words, and then tried again. “There hasn’t been a good time, but I’ve been wanting to thank you. For getting us back, and for everything else.”

“I didn’t get you back. Thor got you back.”

Barnes shook his head. “Steve told me some of what happened. You’re the one who turned time travel into an actual option. Anyway, that’s not all I mean.” He looked away. “I know you’ve got bad blood with us, and maybe the past few days have been about something bigger than that, but they don’t erase everything that came before. Thank you for letting me into your home.”

Tony followed the other man’s gaze--to Morgan, again. Suddenly he felt even more tired. “The bad blood wasn’t with you, not really. I already told you that.”

And he had. The aftermath of Siberia hadn’t been pretty. After he’d recovered, it had taken less than a day to figure out where Barnes and Rogers had gone. Every moment he hadn’t been working on Rhodey’s artificial legs, he’d lost himself in the Winter Soldier files, obsessively reviewing every detail he could find about the man’s creation and missions. Tony’s original intent had been to build a case to use for prosecution after he figured out how to get the Winter Soldier out of Wakanda without starting a war. But along with the list of victims and crimes, he’d found a different kind of horror, and pain. 

People often forgot, but Tony had been tortured. Those memories were further back in his trauma parade now, behind the more recent ordeals of looking through a portal into hell, watching Pepper fall from his grasp, wrestling with the apocalyptic nightmare that Wanda had placed in his head, feeling Steve slam the shield into his chest, and having Peter turn to dust in his arms. But there had been a time when every night he had dreamed of sand, and a car battery hooked to his broken chest, and being shoved underwater over and over and over until part of him genuinely wished to drown. So Tony knew something about torture, and. Well. If he’d been through what Barnes had, he wasn’t sure he’d have been able to claw himself back into personhood nearly as well. And even through his rage and grief, he knew that Barnes hadn’t deserved what had happened to him.

“I remember all of them,” Barnes had said on that horrible day. It was burned into Tony’s memory. After he’d finished reviewing the files, he’d gone on a bender, cried in Pepper’s arms, and slept for twelve hours. Then he locked himself in the lab again, and two days later he contacted T’Challa with the specs for his Binarily Augmented Retro-Framing system and the outlines of a protocol for how it might be used to help Barnes.

A while later, he’d gotten a letter. _I almost didn’t send this, because you shouldn’t have to hear from the monster who murdered your family. But I wouldn’t be able to live with myself, to maybe try to build a new life, if I didn’t say thank you. Thank you for not killing me, in that bunker. As the Soldier I studied all the intel Hydra had about the firepower in your suit, and I know that Steve and I would have been dead in an instant if you’d actually wanted that. In your position, I’m not sure I’d have shown as much mercy. And I definitely wouldn’t have developed the tech that would help you get your life back. I don’t deserve what you’ve done for me. And I am so, so sorry about your parents. There are no words for how sorry I am. I would give anything to turn back the clock, for them and for everyone else I killed. Steve might want me to be the same guy I was when I fell off that train, but I’m not. If you want to bring me in, I’ll come willingly._

Tony had taken a suit out, had flown for hours until he could breathe properly again, and then he’d written back. _The worst things you’ve done in your life were not done willingly. I can’t say the same. I’ve hit various forms of rock bottom a lot of times in my life, but I still think the worst one was finding out what my weapons had done. I was an arrogant asshole then--still am--but I genuinely thought I was giving the world a gift, and to find out that I was doing the opposite wrecked me. And it would have ended there, with me dead in that cave, if a man named Ho Yinsen hadn’t been there with me. He told me to fight, he helped me build the suit, and then he died for me. His last words were, “Don’t waste your life.” I can’t undo what I’ve done, and I honestly don’t know how I’ve survived this far, but I can try to live by those words for as long as I’m still here. You should, too. None of us can go back, but you’ve got a shot at moving forward, even if you’re someone different now. Don’t waste your life, Barnes._

“Yeah, you did.” Barnes’ voice brought Tony back to the present. “I still don’t think I’ve earned any of this, but I’m working on accepting it. But Steve--” Barnes shook his head. “I’d do anything for him, but he lost perspective and then some when it came to me. He should've told you what he knew. If we’d had more time before things went to shit back then, I’d have told him that.”

Tony leaned back in his chair, propped his feet up on the porch railing. “Yeah, he should’ve. He wrote me a bullshit letter after everything went down. Nowhere near as self-aware as yours. It actually said ‘Hopefully one day you can understand.’” Barnes snorted, and Tony chuckled. “Yeah.” He thought for a minute. “I almost do understand, but not in the way he meant. I meant it when I told him resentment is corrosive, but I might not ever truly forgive him for keeping that from me. But he was desperate not to lose you, and I understand desperation. I understand that it makes you do stupid things.” He looked at Barnes. “You think he’s at that point right now?”

Barnes looked back. “Yeah.”

“All right. What’s our play?”

Barnes thought for a minute. “Can you build one of those watches for me? And get Pym to make extra particles?”

Tony saluted. “Your wish is my command, Tastee Freeze.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Upcoming: 1. The stones get returned, and Steve and Tony talk; 2. Pepper, Tony, and their journey from "You're going to kill yourself, and I'm not going to be a part of it," to "It sort of seems like you can [help everyone],"; and 3. Irondad. Possibly more.


	3. tony, bucky, and steve: part two

“I’m just saying, we know the design now, and we know this thing works. And it could have been smaller, since there’s not a large group going back. So there’s no real reason we couldn’t have built the platform to sit...in a hot tub.”

Tony rolled his eyes. Next to him, Peter snickered.

“For God’s sake, Lang,” Sam Wilson said, “when the only one who laughs at your jokes is a literal teenager, you might want to reconsider your sense of humor.”

“Hey!” Peter and Lang exclaimed simultaneously.

“I’m sorry, why are either of you here, again?” Tony asked.

“Heavy lifting!” Peter said immediately. “I’ve been helpful! And you said-you said yourself, we’re not gonna want to leave this thing sitting around outside once we’re done with it, we’ll have to disassemble it. So it makes sense that I’m here. I can...I can lift stuff.” By the time he stopped talking, there was an edge to his voice.

 _I’m definitely going to have to talk to the kid_ , Tony thought-and felt a rush of gratitude that talking to the kid was a thing he could do, now. He didn’t think that reaction was going to fade anytime soon. Despite the fact that Peter was at the house every second he wasn’t with a newly undusted May at their guest cabin, they hadn’t had a lot of opportunity to talk privately-but it was impossible not to notice that he had been trying to keep Tony in his line of sight at all times. Tony knew he should have said something already, but he’d been occupied with rebuilding the machine and modifying a suit for Barnes-and besides, he couldn’t honestly say that he wasn’t feeling the same instinct. Since Morgan’s birth, he’d become intimately familiar with the bone-deep need to _protect his child_ , and there was no denying that he had the same reaction to Peter.

“Are we ready?” Steve’s tone was curt as he hefted Mjolnir, activated his suit, and stepped onto the newly rebuilt platform. Bruce moved to stand at the controls.

Tony, standing to the side with Peter and Lang, saw Wilson and Barnes exchange a glance. “Not quite,” Barnes said. He activated his own suit and took his place on the platform.

Steve rounded on him, looking equal parts surprised and upset. His fists clenched and unclenched. “No. I appreciate it,” he said, not sounding like he appreciated it at all, “but this is something I need to do.”

“Sure it is.” Barnes’ tone was calm, unmoved in the face of a scowl that would have cowed most people.  “And I’m going to do it with you.”

“We don’t have enough particles.”

“We do, actually,” Lang chimed in, clearly thinking he was being helpful. “Tony came to me, and we went to Hank. We made enough for Bucky.” Unlike Barnes, he flinched in the face of Steve’s glare, and Tony stepped in front of him.

“Look, Captain, the fact of the matter is that you’re outnumbered.” Tony deliberately kept his tone light, but he was deadly serious. He’d had enough time to think about what might happen if Steve decided to go rogue. More than anyone, he’d seen the collateral damage the other man could inflict when he was desperate. The idea that anything might go wrong-that Steve’s grief might lead him to jeopardize what they’d achieved-made Tony’s heart start to pound. He wouldn’t allow it. It wasn’t an option.

Peter turned slightly away from the platform to look at him and sidled closer, the concern in his eyes making it clear that he sensed Tony was more distressed than he was letting on. Tony took a deep breath, brushed against the kid’s shoulder to ground himself, and continued, “You feel like you need to do this? So do it. But you’re not going on your own.”

Steve turned to Bruce, who shrugged. “Look-”

“No, you look.” Barnes didn’t raise his voice, but there was enough intensity in his tone to get everyone’s attention. “I’m not asking, Steve.” His voice dropped even further. “To the end of the line.”

Steve’s eyes shut, and he shuddered. A moment passed. When he opened his eyes, they glittered with unshed tears. He clenched his jaw and nodded.

In the resulting silence, Bruce’s voice seemed too loud. “Okay then!” He started flipping switches. “For us, it’ll be five seconds. For you, it’ll be as long as you need. Remember, you have to put each stone back as close to the moment when it was taken as you can. I’m sending you to Asgard first. Going in three, two, one-”

They were gone.

Peter gasped, not having seen the machine in action before. Tony opened his mouth to reassure him but didn’t have a chance to speak before Bruce drew in a sharp breath and exclaimed, “Wait, what?”

Immediately, Wilson stepped closer. “ _What?_ What do you mean, what?”

“The readouts are changing-they’re in the 1940s, but there’s no reason why they would-”

“Banner, the _fuck_ -”

The air shimmered, and they all whirled around as Steve and Barnes reappeared on the platform. Tony’s heart hammered in his chest as he rapidly looked them up and down. They looked the same-Thor’s hammer was gone-but there, at Steve’s feet, was the _shield_. The shield that had been broken in half during the battle.  

“Did you do it?”

“What happened?”

Tony shoved past them all. “ _Rogers, what the hell did you do?_ ” He could feel himself shaking. “If you changed things-”

Steve lifted his hands placatingly. “I didn’t. Not in the way you mean.”

“Not in the way I mea-oh, well I guess it’s all fine then! No possibility of world-ending consequences here!” Tony could hear his volume rising, but he didn’t care. “Then why did you go to the 40s? _Where did you get the shield_?”

“Oh shit, the shield!” Scott Lang peered around Barnes to stare at it. “Wasn’t it broken? That’s badass!”

Tony wheeled around. “Again, Lang, _why are you even here_?” Peter put a hand on his shoulder, but this time it didn’t help. Visions were flickering through his head of dark alternate realities, of Thanos reappearing.

And then Tony’s phone rang.

They all turned to look at him. He thrust his hand into his pocket and pulled out his phone, ready to silence it, or maybe throw it at someone-and then saw Shuri’s rotating hologram above the screen. Shuri, who was working with Strange on a way to heal Thor.

Tony pointed at Steve. “We’re not done.” He brushed past everyone and started walking into the trees as he answered the call. “Stark here.”

* * *

A few minutes after he got off the phone, Steve came to find him. “How’s Thor?” he asked, clearly braced for the worst. For an instant, Tony considered avoiding the question in favor of yelling some more, but the trepidation on the other man’s face kept him in check. That, and the fact that Shuri had reassured him that she could detect no unusual readings on any of their scanners. 

“Like they said the other day, the problem isn’t that the injuries aren’t survivable for an Asgardian so much as that they can’t find a way to improve them. Thor’s in excruciating pain, and it’s not getting better.” _It should have been me, not him_ , a deep part of Tony whispered. Unable to keep eye contact, he looked away. He focused on Peter, standing some distance away next to the platform with his back to them. Tony took a deep breath and continued, “There are very short-term fixes, like the spell Strange worked so that Thor could come to the-the memorial. But they’re not sustainable. And no one knows enough about Asgardian biology or Thor’s lightning power to know what Extremis might do, so that’s off the table. The best they can come up with is to use some sort of spell that will channel the damage into a more localized area of his arm and then... amputate.”

Steve was silent. After a few seconds, Tony made himself look over, and saw that the other man had closed his eyes and bowed his head. For a moment, the only sounds he could hear were the chirping of birds and the clanging of metal as the others started to take the platform apart. Then Steve shook himself and said, “Well, I suppose he’ll say it’s not a large price, to get half the world back. Not as large as...the one Natasha paid.”

Tony coughed, suddenly blinking back tears. _It’s my fault,_ he thought, _it’s my fault, it’s my fault_ , and before he could stop himself the thought escaped out loud. “It’s my fault.”

“What?”

He could feel his left arm starting to tremble and clenched his fist. “You heard me, Rogers. Nebula gave us the puzzle pieces, about Thanos and Gamora. Two went to Vormir, one came back. Maybe we could have found another way. And Thor…it was almost me, not him. I took the stones from Thanos. I was gonna do it. But Thor came over to me and insisted and I...I caved.”

“Tony.” Steve’s voice was as soft as he’d ever heard it. “You would have died.”

Tony closed his eyes and felt two tears escape. ”Yeah. I guess I would have.”

“Hey.” He heard Steve step closer. “Don’t take their choices away from them.” Tony looked up, and saw tears on Steve’s face to match his own. “We all said it. Whatever it takes. They did what they felt they had to do. All we can do is honor them for it.” Unexpectedly, he smiled-it was small, but it was there. “It can’t always be you taking the hits, Shellhead.”

Tony knew it was inappropriate, but he felt a slightly hysterical laugh bubbling up in his throat. “Wait, did I hear you correctly? I always take the hits? Remember that time you said I wasn’t the guy to make the sacrifice play?”

Steve’s eyes widened and he spluttered, “You know damn well I changed my mind right after that, when you _flew a nuke into a wormhole_.” Then they were both laughing through their tears. After a moment, Steve straightened up and wiped his eyes. “I knew then we weren’t that different.” Tony raised an eyebrow, and Steve flushed. “Well, not in the way that mattered. Not in the way I’d accused you of.” He smiled crookedly. “You drove the nuke up into the portal, I drove the plane down into the ice. Maybe we’re a little more alike than either of us wants to admit.”

“Now you’re just being insulting.” The corners of Steve’s mouth quirked, but his smile faded quickly. Tony watched him. “Why’d you go back to the 40s?”

Steve let out a long sigh. “I owed someone a dance.” He looked away. “You were right not to let me go alone. I might have done something stupid on Vormir, otherwise, even though I knew I shouldn’t. And then...I almost stayed with Peggy.”

“Jesus Christ, Steve.”

Steve kept talking like he hadn’t heard. “I know she ended up having a family. Kids. She lived a full life. And I still might have ignored all that, ruined her future, if Bucky hadn’t threatened to kick my ass. But I’m glad I got to say a proper goodbye at least. I didn’t, before.”

Tony wasn’t sure how to respond, but it didn’t seem to matter; Steve kept talking. “I think I just...wanted what you have. Remember when you said you were going to tap out and build Pepper a farm, after everything with Ultron, and I said I wasn’t the guy who wanted that anymore? I guess I ended up changing my mind. I know you were as devastated as we were, after the first snap, but...you found a way to make some happiness. I wanted that too.”

Tony kept his voice as gentle as he could when he said, “You ever thought about trying to find it in this decade?”

Steve’s mouth twisted ruefully. “Well, I’m thinking about it now. I brought the shield back for Sam, actually. Just gave it to him a few minutes ago. He’s going to be Captain America now.”

It was extremely rare that Tony was stunned into silence. He fumbled for a response. “You’re...retiring?”

“For the most part.” Steve’s smile was wistful. “Like I said before, Nat kept us together. I want to honor that, do what she did. Make sure everyone knows what’s going on, has what they need. But I think I’m done in the field. It’s time for me to stop fighting.” He looked away, and then back. “I was thinking about it while we were gone-even when you and Bruce made Ultron, it was because you wanted peace. Like you said, you’ve always fought so you could end the fight. You never lost sight of that. But all that time, I wasn’t fighting for peace. I wasn’t fighting for life. I was fighting because I didn’t know anything else. And I ended up fighting you too, even when I shouldn’t have. I’m sorry for that.”

Try as he might, Tony couldn’t stop the flash of bitterness that shot through him at that. Steve must have seen it, because his face dropped and he turned away. Tony reached out hurriedly. “No, wait.”

Steve waited.

 _Resentment is corrosive_. Tony breathed out. Organized his thoughts. Breathed in again, and spoke. “You fucked up when you lied to me about Barnes killing my parents. There’s no doubt about that. But I don’t think you’re being fair to yourself. I understand a little bit more about family now than I did then. I might have been desperate past the point of reason too, even if I hadn’t lost everyone the way that you did.” He stepped a little bit closer. “You say you were living for the fight, but I was too, in my way. After Iron Man, all the way up until Morgan, I always felt like I was living on borrowed time. And once I knew what was out there in the galaxy, I couldn’t stop thinking that I’d made it happen-that in sending that nuke through the portal, I brought about the destruction of the Earth. I wasn’t fighting for life, either. I was fighting out of fear.”

“That’s different.”

“Is it?”

“Maybe you weren’t fighting for _your_ life, Tony.” Steve bridged the remaining distance between them and grasped Tony’s shoulder. “But you were fighting so that _all of us_ could live. Always. And I’m sorry for all the times I didn’t recognize that.”

The moment stretched out between them. Slowly, Tony brought his hand up to grasp Steve’s. Throat tight, he nodded. Steve squeezed his shoulder one more time and stepped back to give them both a bit of breathing room. Tony cleared his throat, tried to lighten the mood. “You’re the one who wielded the hammer, though.”

Steve laughed. “I’ve gotta say, I enjoyed getting to light the bastard up. But I bet any of us could have wielded it at that point. That thing knows who’s worthy, so I think it knew the stakes too. I couldn’t lift it when we all tried the first time."

“Or maybe you learned a few things between then and now.”

“Maybe.” Steve’s smile turned wistful, but it stayed on his face.

Tony looked at him. Took him in, standing tall and broad in the sunlight. He offered his hand. “There’s a lot of water under this bridge, but I’m glad we made it here, Rogers.”

Steve took it. “I am too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I intended this to be an Endgame fix-it, not a Civil War one, but who says you can’t kill two birds with one stone, I guess? Also, I spent an unreasonable amount of time thinking about the damage that the gauntlet might have done to Thor as opposed to Bruce or Tony and then decided I didn’t care. This felt right. (But those of you who are more familiar with Thor’s abilities than I am, either in the MCU or in the comics, let me know your take! I’m curious.)

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written fanfic since 2006, but damn if this didn't drive me to it. Thank you to all of the authors who have kept me reading it for all these years, through college and grad school and three different jobs. And thank you to Tony Stark, who didn't need superpowers to be a superhero.


End file.
